Thursday, March 29, 2018

Coffee for the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

This very early morning in the very early spring I am enjoy
a cup of coffee on the first day of the rest of my life.Today is my first day as the retired editor
of Heart of Ohio Magazine.It’s a day I’ve
known was coming for some time, but still I sit here sipping coffee wondering
what comes next.

It’s not as if this is the first time I’ve gone thru this
coffee ritual.I remember sipping a cup
of coffee with my new husband at our first breakfast together.We were on our honeymoon; this was the first
day of our married life.The future
seemed to open before us…. now that was one great cup of coffee.

A few years later I sat propped up in a hospital bed having
a cup of coffee after our son had been born very late the night before.The coffee was, well, hospital coffee.But this was the first day of the rest of my
life as a new mother and I looked at the future through the filter of my
inexperience.It was a terrifying and
wonderful future that stretched out ahead of me.

Peering at the future over the rim of a coffee cup brings
back so many times when the piping hot liquid anchored me.The first morning after the death of a dear
friend or family member…the first morning in the kitchen of a new home…and the
nights when sleep was impossible; the only thing allowing the early morning to
arrive a bottomless cup of coffee.

My first cup of coffee the morning after my retirement party
from a long broadcast career stands out because I wasn’t sure this “retirement”
thing was for me.As it turned out I
was right, no amount of coffee could change the fact that I needed something to
do.That’s when, over a cup of coffee,
my friend Diane Brown and I put our heads together to bring her idea of a local
magazine to fruition.With no experience
in producing a magazine she went from printer to publisher and I went from
retired broadcaster to editor.It
turned out to be a great experience that bonded our friendship and introduced
us to so many interesting places and people that the nine years have passed in
the blink of an eye.

Now Great Lakes Publishing (Ohio Magazine, Cleveland
Magazine, etc.) is going to take Heart of Ohio Magazine to a new level.Diane Brown will continue to supply our
community with printing and graphics services, just as she has for so many
years at Sun Graphics.I’ve chosen to
continue to look for stories to write for Heart, but I will no longer be
editor.Diane Brown and I will serve on
an advisory board meeting periodically to help maintain the local flavor and
interest of Heart of Ohio Magazine.

And so, this cup of coffee is the first cup of coffee as I
begin this new chapter of my life.What
comes next?I haven’t a clue.But, based on so many “first cups” over the
years I can’t wait to find out.